John 7:49 — Community Reflections

JOHN 7:49 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.”

But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed — the Pharisees express contempt for the crowd ('this people') as ignorant of the Law and therefore cursed (accursed, arara). The elitism is stark: only the educated, certified interpreters (Pharisees) are not cursed; the common people, who know not the Law through formal study, are outside God's covenant. This attitude is precisely what Jesus has challenged: that knowledge of God depends on institutional credentials rather than faith and willingness to do God's will (7:17). The curse the Pharisees pronounce becomes ironic judgment on themselves.

Church Fathers on John 7:49

Our Lord having invited those, who believed in Him, to drink of the Holy Spirit, a dissension arose among the multitude: Many of the people therefore, when they heart these saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
Augustine · 4th century

The one, that is, who was expected. Others, i.e. the people said, This is the Christ.
Theophylact · 11th century

These had now begun to drink in that spiritual thirst, and had laid aside the unbelieving thirst. But others still remained dried up in their unbelief: But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said, That Christ comes of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? They knew what were the predictions of the Prophets respecting Christ, but knew not that they all were fulfilled in Him. They knew that He had been brought up…
Alcuin · 8th century

Read all 28 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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